I already know the vast majority of this newsgroup likes The Simpsons, and I'm probably the only one here who doesn't. But does anyone here like Malcolm in the Middle, Titus, and Family Guy?
What exactly is so popular about these dysfunctional family shows, anyway?
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I like Family Guy, and Titus is not bad. MitM I can't stand. I think the entertaining things about these shows is that they exaggerate normal families. Dysfunctional is a word which should be used to define abusive families, or families with parents who don't take care of thir children. Unfortunately, it has come to mean much more, such that any small quirk is called dysfunctional. In the true meaning of the word, I don't think Family Guy, The Simpsions, or Malcolm are really dysfunctional families. Titus has at least one genuinely dysfunctional parent obviously. The Dad is mean, but at least he did bring the boy up and support him monetarily, if not so much mentally.
Paul
I love Malcolm, I've always enjoyed The Simpsons, I've only recently discovered the joy of Titus, but I find that the 'crudeness for its own sake' of Family Guy outweighs the comedy so I don't watch it.
Good question.
1. Dysfunction makes writing funny episodes easier. Kids getting into trouble will always provide more comedy material than kids obeying their parents. Seinfeld, a show about perhaps the four most dysfunctional people in TV history, was the #1 show of the 90's.
2. People in general seem to find the misfortune of others enjoyable or compelling; We slow down to check out car accidents, we laugh at clowns slipping on banana peels, we find humor in Al Bundy's overtly pathetic life. Mel Brooks once said, "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall down an open manhole cover and die."
3. Most families *are* to some degree disfunctional. I can relate better to Malcolm that I ever could to Beaver Cleaver. I call it the Griswold effect. In every National Lampoon vacation movie, I recognized something, some little incident that specifically happened to me and my family during one of our infamous (in my family, anyway) summer vacations when my brothers and I were children.
I'm sure there's more, but I've got to go.
Hope this helped.
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dumb children with no parental supervision, and access to a hammer.Dave wrote:
I didn't get the original message but. It took you this long to discover Titus? I only like it and The Simpsons. Famly Guy is just there as a vehicle for jokes(and lame ones at that), And Im not a fan of Malcom.
Excellent analysis. It's how we laugh at what we see in ourselves amplified on screen.
Stewie was pretty cool though.